Not everyone can be a Power Ranger...

When I told people that I was going to be teaching five year old in Korea, I believe everyone's initial reaction was to literally laugh out loud. When I later informed people that I would also be teaching three and four year olds, I think people began praying.

Since I have been in Korea, I have discovered that these children are actually not 3, 4, and 5 but rather 2, 3, and 4 due to the unique way Korea decides a person's age. And even more surprising than learning the actual ages of the children I teach, is how much I enjoy doing so.

There are 3 five year old classes (himmel, mont, and libe) and I teach each class three times a week. There are 5 four year old classes and I teach each class once a week. And finally there are 2 three year old classes and I teach each of those classes also once a week.

I haven't completely fallen in love with teaching the three and four year olds yet and perhaps that is because of the fact that I enjoy the five year olds so much. I'm not quite sure why but the three and four year olds show very little personality where the five year olds are just bubbling with it.

Every morning, I'm greeted by Libe class who is suppsedly the smartest in the school--though I would disagree and label them the most hyper. Recently, we've begun playing Power Rangers in the morning. J.K. (who is quite good at English and relatively well behaved in class) began this game early on in my career at Haba Academy and has slowly recruited his classmates to fight with him as of course I'm the bad guy.

To walk you through my morning, when I arrive I'm immediately spotted by a student from Libe class who runs back to the class to yell what I assume in Korean means, "Kara's here! Kara's here!" Before the Libe monsters can capture me and begin our power ranger game, I say hello to Himmel class (who just happens to be remarkably calm and never join in our morning craziness). Then I am wisked away to an area with some cushioned seats and begain "hiyahing" at the different students. The play begins innocently at first as there are typically only three kids and I can give attention to each and also keep them from crawling through my legs or pulling down my shirt which for some reason they enjoy doing. As more and more kids arrive, they are recruited into the game before they can even put on their slippers. And I suddenly have eight small Korean children attacking me from all directions. During this time, Ryan usually arrives and begs for all of my attention. He stands in front of me and says "pick up, pick up" over and over again in hopes of me lifting him off his feet in some fun way. And once I have lifted Ryan off his feet the other children swarm and also start chanting in Korean and English versions of: "me, my turn, pick up, move Ryan" and so forth. It quickly becomes a mad house of J.K. still wanting to Power Ranger fight, Ryan trying to stand as close to me as possible, Edgar crawling through my legs, Won-Won looking sweetly at the activities from the sidelines, DoWoo speaking to me in his broken English, and Ji-In pulling on my jean pockets. And just as it's getting too crazy, Grace walks in. She calls her class to order and they run into the Libe room and I walk back to my office hoping I haven't made Grace angry with our antics...again.

How can I not enjoy mornings like this? When it's clear that eleven little beings absolutely adore you and wait for your arrival every morning. I'm not sure what I've done to earn such adoration from Libe class but earn it I have. And they are one-third of the reason I enjoy five year olds so much now :).

Korean Culture 101

After being in South Korea for slightly over 2 weeks, I firmly believe I have experienced the majority of cultural changes I will deal with in the next year and I thought I'd give everyone out there a lesson in Korean culture.

LESSON 1: Korean Subways

1. If a Korean is running, you should also run. If you don't run, you will miss the next train.

2. When the subway doors open, push and shove until you are on the train. Do NOT wait for anyone to exit the train.

3. Remember exit numbers. It's not as easy as remembering it's Seoul Station. As when you arrive you have to sort through 10 different exits to find the one to Lotte Mart.

4. Random men run through all the Subway cars collecting newspapers, if you get in their way they will yell at you in Korean.

5. Random beggars put paper on your leg (written in Korean) if you touch said paper, you will be obligated to pay. Instead, leave said paper on your knee and do not move until beggar person recollects the paper.

LESSON 2: Taxis

1. When handing your address to a Korean Taxi Driver, expect them to not recognize it and then ask you for directions...in Korean.

2. If you think a Taxi driver has asked you what Korean words you know, you're an idiot. And he will call you an idiot when you start saying all these words randomly to him.

3. If you are trying to direct a Korean taxi driver, just stop.

LESSON 3: Walking

1. When walking in Korea, expect to be photographed randomly. These photographs are most likely to happen when you are in your pajamas, with wet hair, hijacking internet.

2. There is no left side/right side to walking in Korea. Instead you play chicken with everyone walking by. Usually, I lose.

3. If a Korean sees you reading your ipad. They will ask you about it. They will want to touch it. They will try to hold it. They will ask if they can have it. You quickly learn to ignore them.

4. If you say a foreigner walk by, greet them with a smile, head nod, and even maybe a hello. They will ignore you, unless it's me and I will probably be so overwhelmed that a foreigner was finally nice, I will hug you.

LESSON 4: Food

1. Rice. Rice. Rice.

2. Purple Rice. White Rice. Yellow Rice. Brown Rice. White Rice with yellow specks. Greenish Rice.

3. Do not let people think you're a vegetarian. If this happens, try to nicely correct them, but most likely it won't work.

4. Expect mounds of seaweed at every lunch. Learn to hide seaweed quickly to appease the lunch lady.

5. Spicy. Spicy. Spicy.

6. McDonalds breakfast is great and a meal is less than 4$.

7. McDonalds dinner is great and a meal is less than 4$.

8. Burger King lunch is great and a meal is less than 4$.

LESSON 5: Koreans

1. Koreans are not bred with hips, breast, or butts. Do not expect them to understand that Americans are.

2. Koreans are not bred with large feet. Do not expect to find women's slippers that fit.

3. Korean men are skinny. Do not expect to see a nice butt.

4. Wearing shorts in the winter is perfectly acceptable as long as you also wear some sort of tights or pantyhose. Do not expect to keep your legs from frostbite.

5. Do not show cleavage. Or wait, is that because it doesn't exist?

LESSON 6: Education

1. Education is important.

2. Kids will go to school from 8am to 10pm. Do not worry, they are at least smart.

3. 2 year olds are in school, all day, expected to be learning.

4. Children are not children.

5. Parents of 5 year olds will say the English classes are too easy. They do not realize their child does not sit still and listen ever.

6. You are the schools token foreigner, expect to fulfill that role often. Expect at every party to have to take a photo with every kid--even the crying ones--to send home. After all you're a foreigner.

LESSON 7: Miscellaneous

1. Koreans spit.

2. You will always be laughed at when you speak in Korean, but still do it.

3. Foreigners have a bad reputation and unfortunately you're one of them.

4. Most guys that talk to you are hoping you are a quick lay. Especially if they are a foreigner or African.

5. It is perfectly acceptable (or is it?) for 30 and 40 year old foreigner men to act like 19 year old college students.

6. Be optimistic. Most foreigners will tell you all sorts of bad stories. Know that God is bigger than that.



I'm sure there are a million more things I could write about in regards to Kroean culture and perhaps one day I'll share more. But for now, I leave you with these to study so that when you come to visit me in Korea you will be prepared :).

Two Weeks and Finding Promises.

It's hard to believe that a little over two weeks ago I arrived in Seoul, Korea after a 14 hour flight with a Korean woman who had no hesitancy invading personal space; especially my 1 foot by 1 foot seat assignment with her head as she spread out across our row of seats.

I arrived uncertain as to what the next step of my journey would be, literally. I was unsure if I had a place to live and how to get to wherever I would be staying that night. After managing to find a cart to carry all my luggage and passing through customs, I was relieved to find a man holding a sign with my name printed boldly. He took over pushing my luggage and led me to a taxi van that then carried me to an apartment I had been trying to rent. The taxi driver dropped off myself and my luggage and left before I had even finished conversing with the land lady. A sweet, young Korean who had NO idea I was moving in that night. It was then that I experienced my first real taste of Korean hospitality as with no real warning she invited me in, showed me around, accepted a third of the money I owed, and left. I had rented an apartment in minutes without even signing a contract.

Pamela, a friend from camp, had been an exquisite help in answering all my questions before coming to Korea and even journeyed down to Seoul that night to sleep on the floor in my freezing, newly-rented apartment in an old rug.

After a freezing cold night with no heat and only a sheet to sleep with, I awoke the next morning at 2am already struggling with jetlag. As I lay in bed, it was easy to be consumed with thoughts questioning my decision to come. So much had gone wrong already and it seemed as if I had ignored the multitude of signs that pointed to this journey being wrong.

After several hours of this self-deprecating talk, Pamela awoke and we began a day filled with activity in an effort to reduce my jetlag. We began by exploring the area around my apartment and buying some much needed items at the Local store. Then continued on to meet with some of Pamela's teacher friends to explore the history of Korea. We went to the blue house (which is basically America's white house) and toured a National museum that boasted of Korea's accomplishments. We then ventured to another area where we saw a private showcasing of some Korean teens' Taekwondo moves that prepared us to watch JUMP that evening; a non-verbal show demonstrating the insane movements of Taekwondo. The evening ended with dinner, in which I was told several horror stories about working in Korean hagowans. That began with not getting paid regularly and ended with no bonus money. Needless to say, this did little to calm my fears.

I navigated the Subway by myself that evening and returned to my apartment alone to evaluate this decision of mine and to go to bed early.

The next morning I again woke early and found a challenge as I kept playing back every event that happened previous to my arrival Korea and they all seemed so bad. I kept wondering if I had ignored all the times God had done something to tell me not to come. And I looked to Monday with fear, as I knew I would find out if the horror stories were going to be true...

Two weeks have passed since that time of fear. I won't lie and say that aren't times I wonder what I'm doing here. But I also know that coming to Korea was God's plan for my life. And I know that because in two weeks, God has already done so much to change who I am and bring me closer to Him.

I've fallen in love with the job I'll be doing this year. Which can only be God, as whoever could believe I'd love working with young kids daily? I know I'll enjoy the challenges that come with teaching 2 year olds and the quest to be creative in teaching 4 year olds. I also know I'll enjoy arriving at work everyday to have kids begin chanting my name, a thing I no longer got to enjoy working with teens at camp.

I know now that my school will most likely not be as bad as other hagowans that stories are told about, but I also know it won't be as great as other hagowans that stories are told about. I think that it's a matter of being satisfied with what I've been given and trusting that good and bad is meant to help me grow.

I also seem to have stumbled onto a church that I'm excited to continue worshipping in. My first Sunday, I arrived late and could have wept with a feeling of contentment when I walked through the doors to the crowded sanctuary. The sermon could have been God speaking directly to me about what he was using this year to do in my life. And when I went back today, I was blessed to meet a girl who went to Bethel College in MN (Northwestern's rival) and hopeful to have found a group of Christians to befriend and fellowship with, finally.

And so I close with one last story. My second Sunday here, as I got ready for church that morning I longed for a full length mirror. It seems essential that every girl is able to see the whole length of her outfit before leaving and I needed a full length mirror to do so. But because my pay date is not for some time (a month and a half), I am being quite careful with my finances and knew that I couldn't afford the $40 mirrors I had looked at in Lotte Mart the previous day. As I walked home from eating Burger King later that afternoon (yes, Burger King, just because I'm in Korea doesn't mean the picky eater I am has disappeared), I walked by a large, standing, cracked, full length mirror in the trash. I knew that this mirror was a gift from God and a promise of something greater. I'm not sure if I can adequately explain why this mirror held the symbolism it did. But I know that finding that mirror that trash which now sits in my room and helps me get ready every morning, was a promise from God that He was here in Korea and that He is seeing to my needs.

The doubts I have or the fears or the insecurities or the idols all of them are nothing compared to the power that is God. And I can trust in a promise He has give me to be a provider of I all need this year. And I know that He is going to provide money when I need it, food that I will eat, Christian fellowship that I can grow in, and so much more.